"A New Democratic Scandal"

Government is corrupted whenever it is diverted from its avowed purpose and directed toward some other goal, especially goals that conflict with its purpose." - Thomas Sowell

Talking About Politics

Carter Wrenn and Gary Pierce

If the News & Observer is not careful pretty soon folks on Governor Easley's Board of Transportation are going to be calling it a Republican newspaper.

The N & O has grabbed a tiger by the tail. A few years ago the legislature passed a law requiring DOT Board members to report how much money they raise for politicians – like Governor Easley. The purpose of the law is simple: To expose the link between where roads are built and political contributions.

But, the News & Observer reports, several of Governor Easley's appointees have sidestepped the law. DOT appointee Louis Sewell of Jacksonville is an example.

Mr. Sewell was tasked by Governor Easley's campaign with raising $125,000. How much did he report raising on his ethics form: $0.

Read the Original Post from 'Talking About Politics'

And Fern Shubert's Comments?

Carter: No mystery. "If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears, was there a sound?"

Republicans who tell the truth simply don't get reported, or supported by the "leaders" of their (?) own party.

Don't stop with DOT. Most of state government is now corrupt.

As for DOT, when the DOT corruption was exposed a decade ago, Garland Garrett was made the DOT fall guy, rehired (they always look after their fall guys), and then had to resign due to video poker.

Now Orr is going after Tippett, when he should be going after the Hunt machine that gave us Easley. If the feds hang around long enough, no telling who they could roll up.

Dan: If you want to report a new scandal (since selling DOT seats is old, old news), what about the people who concealed the census numbers to steal the whole state government? Who knew about the new Orange County numbers and when did they know?

I've been talking about the corruption for years, and the Sewell "scandal" is a pimple on a pig.

Here's the speech I gave at the Council on Aging four years ago.

(Nothing has changed, except I've realized a lot of so-called leaders of the Republican Party are just as interested in protecting the status quo as the Democrats. If you're only interested in DOT, skip to the end, starting with the Mafia comment. ( I included the whole speech because I like to remind people how "ineffective" I really was, since the press uses that label so freely to replace honest Republicans with go-along-to-get-along DemLites.)

My name is Fern Shubert and I am here to ask for your vote and your support in the race for Governor. I’ve a very impressive resume and more legislative accomplishments than I have time to mention, including national recognition from the US SBA for my work for small business, putting phonics back in the classroom, stopping the taxation of public school purchases, ending the tyranny of portfolios for new teachers, and helping raise the eligibility level for medical care for the elderly poor from less than half of poverty to 100% of poverty, and the list goes on.

But most of you don’t know my record, and you should ask yourself why? Why does the press tell us our tests show most children are on grade level, when according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress only 1 child in 3 in NC will learn to read well by 4th grade, and for black children it’s closer to 1 in 10? Most children in this state will never read the Bible because they can’t even read a book.

Why did the press report writing scores are up during the nineties when in fact we went from 37.5% of our 10th graders proficient in grammar to 8%? Why did DPI brag on the 25% improvement in the number of black eighth graders competent in math when in fact we went from 4% competent to 5% competent and those responsible should have been exposed rather than praised? We are losing jobs in part because our work force is not adequately prepared to compete with overseas workers. It is hard to correct a problem when the people responsible refuse to admit it exists. I want to fix those problems. That’s why I’m talking about them. But why haven’t you heard about them before?

Recently I read an article from the New York Post written by someone with access to insider reports from the battlefield from the US military who had watched the al-Jazeera and BBC reporting of the same fighting. He said, “I saw two different battles. The media weren't reporting. They were taking sides. With our enemies.

And our enemies won.” - Think about that.

If you base your opinions in this election on the mainstream media, including their polls, our enemies win. Most of you know little or nothing about me because I’m the candidate they least want to see on the ballot in the fall. I’ve too many accomplishments to list and I’ve beaten the insiders’ election machine like a drum, but the press has called me ineffective and a “dim bulb,” just like they call our President, a Harvard MBA, dumb.

I was asked to run for the House because no Republican could win in such a Democrat district. I won it three times. When I ran for the Senate, I was told there was no way to retire the incumbent. Wrong again. And if money decides the fall election, as some would have you believe, it is already over and Easley has won because he is mortgaging our future to raise campaign cash. (It is so bad even the N&O made the connection between the December giveaways and contributions.) But if I’m the candidate, I don’t think there is any amount of money that can save Easley and the insider machine.

If Easley has to run against me, he will be missing a lot of members of two core constituencies . . . state employees and teachers. They will know I’ve tried to protect their pensions and health benefits while he has been raiding them, and that I managed to protect teachers from the portfolio fiasco even though he vetoed my bill. You don’t know about those fights because the press didn’t report them.

Just like the North Carolina Press has buried one of the biggest stories in the country for over two years. NC is known throughout the world as the place to come if you need a real fake ID. Our current Governor is more liberal than California’s Gray Davis on issuing driver’s licenses to illegal aliens, some of whom may be terrorists, but you’d never know it from the press. The press keeps saying we’ve tightened up since 9/11, but NC law is actually weaker now than it was before the terrorists used planes to kill over 3000 people.

People used to leave their doors unlocked. Now we are seeing home invasions and gang murders, and many law enforcement officers are complaining that North Carolina’s government is helping people establish false identities. The federal government notified the governor that what we’re doing is a security risk, but he ignored the warning.

Because of my efforts to protect public safety, the 9/11 Families for a Secure America have offered their support in my campaign for governor. They confirm that I’m “the only person in either party running for Governor” who has been working to address this issue. And this is a very big issue and a very big cover-up. Our press has taken sides, or you would know this story.

I used to start speeches by saying, “If the Mafia isn’t running North Carolina, they’re jealous, because we’ve legalized larceny.” But that sounded bad, and there are many good people in government, so now I just tell people I feel like I’m serving on the Board of Directors of Enron and I have to get off because I realize management is looting the company. I have to try to stop them. This may sound harsh, but unfortunately it is true. I am running for Governor because as a CPA I see all too clearly where NC is headed if changes are not made.

Senator Hugh Webster also passed the CPA exam. I encourage those of you who live in his area to talk to him about what is going on the legislature. We see the same problem. North Carolina has high marginal tax rates that hurt small towns and small businesses but give the insiders the funds they need to give to their friends to stay in power. Big businesses that are generous contributors can get special breaks.

Four years ago, seats on the Board of Transportation went for $25,000; we know, because the insiders oversold (sort of like airline overbooking) and one of the people promised a seat who didn’t get it demanded a refund.

This year prices are up. When the Governor came to my county, our DOT member raised $100,000 for him and the press didn’t even report it, I guess because the fact that DOT members were expected to provide contributions wasn’t news. It did make the news shortly thereafter when a DOT member from a nearby county sent an email telling his friends they’d better come up with some cash because my county was outbidding them for roads. Apparently you’re not supposed to put that sort of thing in writing. Documenting the road sale evidently makes it newsworthy.

If you want someone to clean up the Raleigh swamp, you don’t ask the alligators, the insiders, who to hire. You find someone who knows where the alligators live and who has shown a talent for twisting their tails. If you want to see the Raleigh swamp drained, elect me. We need to clean house before it is too late.

Senator Fern Shubert is an active Republican who has served in both
the North Carolina state House and Senate, and ran for the N.C. Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2004. She is a CPA working and living in Marshville, in Union County.